In 1989 rioters filled Tiananmen Square, Sky TV was launched and, closer to home, Coral Reef Water World opened in Bracknell.

Now, 20 years on, Coral Reef is celebrating two decades of flumes and fun by looking to the future.

Bracknell Forest borough councillor Iain McCracken opened the centre, which cost £8.5 million to build, on October 21, 1989.

Cllr McCracken, now Bracknell Forest Council’s executive member for leisure, returned to the centre this week to celebrate.

He said: “£8.5 million was a sizeable investment, it still would be, so one of the criteria was that it has to stay at the forefront of leisure facilities in the region and the staff have done us proud.

“When you leave the borough and talk to people, they know about Coral Reef.”

The idea for the adventure pool was first put forward in 1983 as part of a far-reaching plan for leisure facilities in the area.

The council approved funding for the project in February 1987 and building started in January 1988.

Just 21 months later the state-of-the-art pool opened in a building the size of two football pitches, filled with 60 miles of electrical cable, a lazy river, the largest steam room in the UK, three flumes, a pirate ship and much more under the management of Peter Wright.

Peter, now the council’s head of leisure facilities, said: “It was unique, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

“You start with a clean sheet of paper and build a new team around you.

“There were some very long days in the early stages and we hit some teething problems but we always got on top of them.

“There were so many milestones that we achieved – everything from getting the centre up and running to the first year visitor numbers, they were off the chart.

“And we’ve managed to keep it that way.”

Peter managed the centre for 11 years before handing the reigns over to current manager Mark O’Halloran.

Mark said: “The future is about upholding the standards that have come before.

“This is a successful facility and will continue to be successful long after I’m gone because it is a quality product.

“We’re now on to the second and third generations of people coming here – we were looking at some of the old pictures that we have around the place and we realised that some of the kids in the pictures now have kids of their own and are bringing them here!”

The centre’s pools and sunbeds are to close from Monday next week until Saturday, December 26, while the pool is tiled.

Plans are also in place to replace the centre’s raincloud, which hangs above the pool occasionally drenching people below, with a diving bell attraction with a range of water jets for children to play with.

While the pools and sunbeds are closed Sauna World will stay open until Sunday, December 13.